Academic

Dr. Elankurmaran Subbiah, a veterinarian and assistant professor at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine is studying a modified strain of avian Newcastle disease virus (NDV) as a treatment for human prostate cancer. According to the press release here, “Subbiah and his associates are altering the fusion protein of NDV to replicate only in the presence of prostate specific antigen (PSA), which is found exclusively in cancerous prostate cells.”

Eli Lilly and Co. is entereing the veterinary medicine market with a drug for canine separation anxiety, Reconcile (active ingredient appears to be fluoxetine).

A veterinarian’s report led to changes in a controversial Canadian art exhibit. More here.

A Taiwanese veterinarian lost an arm (later reattached) while treating a crocodile at the Shaoshan Zoo. (Warning! The story in the Sydney Morning Herald includes a photograph of the aftermath that some might find too graphic. A shorter version of the story with a nongraphic photo is here.)

“Cowboy poet and large animal veterinarian” Baxter Black appeared on NPR’s Talk of the Nation last week.

William Booth, in the Washington Post,asks of his dogs’ wet food, “what, really, is that grayish brown reconstituted lump in the can?”

I assumed it contained lamb lungs and chicken brains. But there’s a lot more. A 99-cent unit of “cuts and gravy” is the signal product of global industrialized food, where nothing is wasted, a brutal efficiency rules and ingredients are assembled from a relentlessly competitive international marketplace. There is no accident in a can of dog food. Just the opposite.

The story pulls quotes from Drs. Tony Buffington and Bonnie Beaver and makes it seem like dogs are the major animal affected (see Dr. Khuly’s comments on this), but then the writer doesn’t admit to owning any cats.

The arrival of a new baby in the house has made it a bit more difficult for catmanager to keep up with the steady stream of new journal issues. I’d love to be providing my usual summaries of articles I find notable, but time (or the lack of it) leaves me no choice but to cut back somewhat.

The following veterinary journals have new issues available online:

Ethology, Vol. 113, Iss. 5 (May 2007), including an article on the evolution of exploitation in that one species veterinarians don’t treat.

Also now available online are the following individual articles (half are from forthcoming issues of veterinary journals; half are from journals that are not veterinary-specific):

An article on feline leishmaniasis appears in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Vol. 76, No. 4 (2007).

A study accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Physiology (available online now) finds that ” the role of the vestibular system in the control of breathing is to modify baseline respiratory parameters in proportion to the general intensity of ongoing movements, and not to rapidly alter ventilation in accordance with body position.”

A study forthcoming in the Journal of Microbiology (available as an OnlineEarly Article now) “demonstrate[s] that rumen fungi can biohydrogenate fatty acids.”

A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 104, no. 15 (April 10, 2007) finds that Toxoplasma causes highly specific changes in the brains of rats (previous studies have shown brain changes but not such specifically targeted changes as this study claims).

A study forthcoming in Animal Genetics (available as an OnlineEarly Article now) finds that as in mice and dogs mutations in the fibroblast growth factor 5 (FGF5) gene are responsible for differing hair length in cats.

A paper forthcoming in the Journal of Small Animal Practice (available as an OnlineEarly Article now) reports on a case of canine sinus arrest caused by atrial myocarditits.

A study forthcoming in the Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics (available as an OnlineEarly Article now) looks at the use of morphine in dogs.

A study forthcoming in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia (available as an OnlineEarly Article now) compares “two anaesthetic protocols using lidocaine or medetomidine in horses.”

Over at Vet Tech, Nancy Campbell writes about one of the frustrations small animal practitioners and their staff have to deal with: clients who refuse to pay the costs associated with saving their animal during an emergency despite having signed a surgery consent form outlining what the staff will do in the event of an emergency and the client’s responsibility to bear the financial costs of that care.

Over at The Vet Blog, Dr. Susan Barrett writes about pyometra and its dangers. ’Tis the season! (Pyometra was one of the topics covered during last Friday’s staff meeting at catmanager’s clinic.) Catmanager understands that Dr. Barrett’s blog is consciously dog-centric and that that is why she addresses pyometra in dogs only. But, I feel compelled to say, cats get pyometra, too, if more rarely.

Dr. Khuly at Dolittler weaves together a story of close encounters with a paranoid client and a thoughtful discussion of the ethics of blogging about clients.

The veterinary student behind All but one species shares his/her fourth-year schedule, sure to bring back fond memories for veterinarians and bring on second thoughts for those contemplating vet school. 😉

My mailbox was full this afternoon. Highlights from the current JFMS (Vol. 9, No. 1) include

a study of prevalence rates of several nasty microorganisms (e.g., Mycoplasma haemofelis) in cats with anemia (pp. 1–7).

not one but two studies looking at using PCR to diagnose FeLV infections (the second study also looked at FIV). What’s wrong with the Idexx SNAP test, you ask? Well, the first study (pp. 8–13) found that a semi-quantitative real-time PCR assay was “able to detect a large number of cats with low FeLV proviral loads that were negative by other conventional test methods.”

from Greece, a report (pp. 23–28) on a new surgical treatment to help manage obstipation in cats who’ve suffered pelvic fractures

a study out of Tufts (pp. 44–50) that finds that a product called Zero Odor does in fact reduce litterbox odor and thus make litterboxes more attractive to cats.

a case report on “Eosinophilic fibrosing gastritis and toxoplasmosis in a cat” (pp. 82–88)

As always, the cover of the journal features a montage of images you’ll be sure to want your clients to see!